The "GroWI" research project addresses the classic topics of business informatics in the context of information and infrastructure management as well as knowledge management. In co-operation with a practical partner (a manufacturing company from the region) from the German SME sector, a bilateral knowledge transfer takes place. Scientific methods are continuously applied and subjected to evaluation, while at the same time the results are made available to the company's decision-makers so that the results obtained can be used to optimise the company's internal strategic controlling and existing IT infrastructure.

Student final theses and research projects are also located in the project context, so that academic teaching also benefits from a strong practical orientation. This provides comprehensive added value for the practical training of students. The student projects include Master's theses and project groups. The practical partner also benefits from the results of the students' work, which is also made available to them.

Knowledge management is currently not a matter of course, especially for SMEs, but is becoming increasingly important. The Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) also recognises this fact and has been supporting SMEs on their way to the knowledge society for years. As the practice partner is no exception in the context of knowledge management, it will be shown the appropriate way to knowledge management as part of a consultation. In order to withstand increasing competitive pressure, SMEs cannot completely do without knowledge management. Not all of the added value generated by knowledge management can be quantified in monetary terms. The greatest added value results specifically from product optimisation, higher process efficiency and transparency of structures and processes. In this research project, theories from heterogeneous scientific disciplines are therefore analysed and evaluated for their practical suitability using the present case study.

As part of the "Growi" research project, a knowledge management system is also being developed that provides the best possible support for all of the practice partner's knowledge-based business processes. In a first step, a document management system will be developed as the first subsystem. In order to map all requirements in the best possible way, a SCRUM approach will be used so that the communication processes with the practice partner can be realised efficiently and transparently for all stakeholders.

Contact person

• Prof Dr Jorge Marx Gómez
• Stefan Wunderlich